Michigan State football loses recruiting battle for 4-star DL Xadavien Sims

Xadavien Sims has been a top target for Mel Tucker and Michigan State football for what seems like an eternity. He was one of the early targets for the Spartans in the 2024 class and his relationship with Brandon Jordan seemed to give Michigan State the upper hand.

However, when Jordan left East Lansing for the NFL this offseason, it just felt like something shifted. He still loved Michigan State, but other teams caught up.

Michigan State was considered the favorite for a while, but schools like TCU, Vanderbilt, and Oregon all got involved while Oklahoma was right there as well as the home-state option.

On Saturday, he committed to Oregon.

This doesn’t come as a huge shock as he was trending that way for a little while, but that doesn’t make the recruiting loss hurt any less.

But Michigan State may not be out of it quite yet.

Michigan State football will be pushing until signing day

In case you missed the news earlier this week, Michigan State locked in an official visit with Sims for June 2-4. This was planned after he set his commitment date and he has two more officials to Vanderbilt and TCU later in June as well.

To me, this means that he is committed right now, but he’s keeping his options open. He could very well sign with the Ducks in the end, but the door is at least cracked with an official.

Tucker will have an opportunity to push hard for him on the official and try to change his mind but it’s not going to be easy. Hopefully he can develop a strong relationship with new defensive line coach Diron Reynolds. That’s the Spartans’ only hope.